Gaurav Sharma, Agrawal DK, Hasan SA and Sneh Chauhan
Mobile phones are the necessity in modern life. The exposure to electromagnetic field emitted by mobile telephones is increasing rapidly that causes side effects, which may be thermal and non-thermal side effects. Thirty non-user participants and sixty user participants (who use mobile phones for more than 1 hour for more than 2 years) were included in the study. Users participants were further sub-divided into Group A (which use mobile phones for more than 1 hours for more than 2 years but less than 5 years) and Group B (who use mobile phones for more than 1 hours for more than 5 years). Auditory status of the subjects was assessed by Brainstem Evoked Response Audiometry (BERA). Latencies of waves I, III, V and inter-peak latency of I-V were recorded in users and non-users. There was a significant change in the latencies of BERA potentials of wave I and III in users compared to non-users. These changes suggest that radiations emitted from mobile phone causes damage to inner ear, cochlea and may be outer hair cells of inner ear. These results show that electromagnetic frequencies of mobile phone cause some damage to ear and auditory pathway. The study shows that mobile phones have a detrimental effect on the human auditory system.